The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed a resolution Wednesday that puts a copper-nickel mine on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness one step closer to reality. Taking an unprecedented approach to using the relatively novel Congressional Review Act, the House voted 214-208 in favor of overturning a 20-year mining moratorium that was established in 2023. These current protections cover 225,504 acres in the Superior National Forest and center around the Rainy River Watershed that lies upstream of the BWCA.

“The Boundary Waters is the pinnacle of wild places,” says Matthew Schultz with Sportsmen for the Boundary Waters. “The chance of polluting a place like that to me is pretty crazy. It just doesn’t shake out.”  READ MORE